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On this day in 1986, Prince released the song that almost got away. The band Mazarati, with his Paisley Park label, had asked him for a song and he gave them a one-minute acoustic demo of his song “Kiss.” But when the Minnesota artist heard the funk groove Mazarati added, Prince took the song back.
It was a hit. “Kiss” won a Grammy, and the week it reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the Prince-penned “Manic Monday,” recorded by the Bangles, was at No. 2.
Despite its reference to an over-the-top-80s TV show — “You don’t have to watch ‘Dynasty’ to have an attitude” — the song has had staying power, covered by Tom Jones with Art of Noise (1988) and Lady Antebellum (2011) and sung on “Happy Feet” (2006) and “Glee,” in 2011.
— Lisa Legge